Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Outsider by Stephen King

106 reviews

somebodys_fool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

jourdanicus's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

Should have had my King bingo card ready for this one 😅

SK is a comfort author for me at this point. There were some parts of this book that would make it an immediate DNF if written by an author I'm less familiar with. The random Spanish words/phrases spoken by everyone else in the presence of the one Latino character? 🤨 "Considerable bosoms" and mild fatphobia? 🤔 Plot and setting exposition blurted out by characters in phrasing that wouldn't make sense coming from someone of that demographic? 😂

And yet, I listened along anyway. This definitely wasn't one of my favorites, I think he could have better developed the premise. But the idea of a  shapeshifting serial killer is pretty spooky, and I appreciated Holly's point towards the end that a supernatural explanation isn't any less plausible than whatever reason a human being might do something so horrible as to maim and kill a child. This did make me want to read more Holly content so I will likely be checking out the Bill Hodges trilogy next!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Fatphobia, Racism, and Alcohol

c4rn4ge's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical content, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

andrea_95's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Stephen King never disappoints, The Outsider is a gripping read from start to finish. Special shoutout to my girl Holly Gibney, I've only known her for one book but if anything happened to her I would kill everyone in this building and then myself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Cancer, Vomit, and Grief

alucke94's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Violence, Blood, and Cannibalism

pepi's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Blood

witchleaves's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, and Alcohol

loudonuts's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

without a doubt, THE OUTSIDER is my favourite stephen king book. so many elements of this story kept me on the edge of my seat, and just when i thought it might be over, it got worse. the story was fast-paced, but not enough that you feel like you can’t connect with any of the characters (holly is now one of my favourite women in literature). even though it does peter out slightly towards the end, the suspense and horror in this book is impressively immersive. i highly recommend you go into it as blind as possible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Grief

catfanatichorroradict's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

Konnte meine Hände nicht mehr davon lassen und nicht aufhören zu spekulieren. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Suicide, Death of parent, and Murder

nichole_of_numenor's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I loved reading Holly's first case that she handled by herself. And what a creepy one it was. Of course it was creepy. Thanks again for a great one, Mr. King.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Murder